Dragon would have curled a lip in disgust, if he could. As it was he simply turned his broad snout to point back at Egahi, nostrils again flaring. So the Bonebound had not sent her...? No matter. He would not waste this chance. He would speak; they would be given what he knew, freely, and perhaps this meeting would be as fruitful as it was unexpected.
After a moment of thought, he began to speak, his voice coming slow and rumbling. Yet he seemed quite intense in his speech--almost desperate, ranting on and on as if all of their lives truly depended on what he had to say. On him being able to speak his mind, to say all that lingered in his thoughts, all of his information, his questions, his doubts.
"The caves hold many secrets. And the truth is: no one knows why we are here. How we came to be here. The truths of those who came before. Aquarian--our father--lies within this lake, as large as any who has ever been, and larger.
He tells us that if we survive for long enough, we will learn the cave's secrets.
Yet if we do not know how we came to be--or where, truly, we are--then how can we live? You must tell your people this. You must tell them we must seek hints. Clues. Knowledge, if we are to survive. You have perhaps not heard of Nemean: the Betrayer. You have not heard of Raheerah, the great black dragon who breathed flame on Polaris, and nearly destroyed all of those within the caves. All life."
Dragon paused, dark eyes glinting in the dim light of the orbs high above. He took his time, thinking, breathing, and then continued. He wondered what the cobra was making of all of this.
"He came from nowhere: from we-do-not-know-where, and he crashed through the walls and the stone, and he killed, and harmed. What is to stop another coming? What secrets do the statues in the walls hold? What hidden knowledge is gripped beneath Orion's throne?"
The alligator huffed, again thinking, again eyeing Egahi.
"I will tell you this: the greatest knowledge in this cave is ignorance. There are groups--your own, and others--that merely bicker amongst themselves." And here, dragon slammed, or rather slapped, one large clawed foot into the water for emphasis. "They fight over mates, over territory, over nothing. Mindless. Beasts. When they should be looking to survival. And the knowledge we require for survival is there for the taking: we need only share. And so I will share what I have with you, and you will perhaps pass this plea to your people, so that we may survive together."
Again, Dragon fell silent for a moment; again he eyed Imp, thinking. Considering. Then he turned his head back to Egahi, and told her all he knew.
"We are born from stones, and yet we do not know why. The stones of the dead may be imparted with life, and grow anew. Yet this is not always how it was. Our father knew not of this. We are but children, in his eyes. Nemean was the Creator. The Betrayer. In the past, our kind did not exist. And yet--now we do.
There are stone beasts that walk ancient constructions in Polaris. Magic surges there. There are creations of stone throughout the caves, carved by unknown hands. There are creatures of magic beyond our own, that bicker and battle, and we do not know how, or why--only that our lives mean nothing to them. Faces that leer from the stoneworks, and thrones belonging to unknown kings.
Why?
Perhaps the Bonebound know things we do not. Perhaps our Father can tell you what you do not know. Will you go to them? Will you tell them?"
Dragon paused--there was more he could tell. Preaching he could offer, philosophical knowledge. But the question was whether this stranger understood this much--understood all he had said so far.
And whether she believed him--and whether she wanted more.
